Left Behind
by Taliax
Summary: Kairi knew she needed to vent to someone, but she didn't expect that person to be her ex-kidnapper. Well, it's still better than beating up innocent trees. Spoilers for Dream Drop Distance; 3D!Lea/Kairi friendship, referenced Sora/Kairi.


**A/N: So, I had two ideas: one was Kairi angsting after Sora and Riku left her behind, and the other was how Lea figured out how/decided to go to Yen Sid's tower. These two ideas decided they wanted to smush together and help me vent some personal things… So yep, this was born. I'm not shipping Axel(-I-mean-Lea)/Kairi in this other than as friends. Also, if Kairi's OOC (which isn't unlikely) it's probably because I'm not too fond of her in canon. I did enjoy writing her in this, though.**

"I-" _SMACK _"Can't-" _SLICE_ "Believe-" _WHACK-THUNK, _my keyblade sticks so deep in the scarred palm tree that I can't pull it out, no matter how hard I tug. "That oblivious _dork…"_

I would let go of Destiny's Embrace and try to re-summon it, but it took forever to make it appear in the first place and I'm not sure I can do it again. Eventually I manage to wriggle it out of the groove it was lodged in. I go back to taking out my anger on the innocent tree, even though my arms are tired and it's not really helping. At all.

I let out a sigh and lean on my keyblade, making its tip sink into the sandy earth.

"Sora…" I can't believehe left with that miserable excuse for a goodbye. I know he can't take anything seriously, but he just acted like he was taking a trip to the grocery store or something, like he'd be back before sunset. Like it didn't bother him that he's leaving me to go on yet another dangerous adventure. Even Riku looked more emotional than him, and he's _Riku. _

I knew they'd both have to leave ever since they got that letter from the King… but I didn't think the day would come so fast, and now they're gone. And it's not just that they're gone - Sora looked so happy to go when Donald and Goofy came to pick them up in the Gummi Ship. So happy that he barely remembered to give me a hug goodbye.

Biting back bitter words that I feel guilty for even thinking, I go back to lashing out at the tree.

"_He's lucky you put up with him," _Riku had said. At least he'd been reluctant to leave me behind, even though we both knew I couldn't try for the Mark of Mastery. Riku's been much nicer and more understanding since he's been home. I hope he passes his exam; maybe that will get rid of all that guilt he's still swimming in. I can't blame him for anything he did – all his wrongs were because he wanted to protect me…

I miss him just as much as I miss Sora. I just miss them differently.

Somehow while I was lost in thought, my keyblade ended up stabbed deep into the tree bark again. Riku and Sora made using this thing look so easy… Did either of them ever feel this dumb?

"I must look like an idiot, trying to yank a giant flowery key out of a tree," I mutter.

"Yeah, you kind of do."

I pause, wondering if I'm hearing things, before turning around and staring in shock at my ex-dead ex-kidnapper.

"_Axel?" _Now would be a really good time to have my keyblade in a non-useless position.

He smirks, leaning casually against a tree a few feet away. "The name's Lea now, princess. Got it memorized?"

I back up until I'm pressed against the palm trunk, still clinging awkwardly to my keyblade. "But Sora said… you were…"

"Dead?" He shrugs. "Death isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Well, that tells me just about nothing. Looking at him more closely, I notice that the tattoos under his eyes are gone. "You're not here to kidnap me again, are you?" I say with a mix of annoyance and anger. That would _really _ruin my day. More than it's already been ruined.

Lea snorts. "To quote Xigbar, "As if." You knew I was dead; didn't Sora tell you how I died?"

Oh. He did, didn't he. "I guess I should thank you for saving his life." That had broken my brain a little (more like a lot) when Sora first told me.

"Eh, you know Rox- Sora. He'd be useless without us." He grins, and I can't help laughing.

"Exactly. Though I feel pretty useless right now…" It comes out before I realize I'm just letting my feelings leak out in front of an almost-not-quite-stranger. We did get to know each other surprisingly well when he kidnapped me – not that that was an enjoyable experience, but being kidnapped by Saïx afterwards made being with Axel seem like a vacation.

To cover up my sentence, I try again to dislodge my keyblade. Again with no success.

"Here," Lea says, walking over to pull my keyblade out with a single tug. He twirls it around and inspects it. "Kinda frilly, I've gotta say."

I stare at him, remembering something Riku told me. "Don't you have to be a wielder to hold a keyblade?"

He grins and hands it over. "Well, they _are _handing them out to everyone these days… gimme a sec…" He frowns, flexing his fingers and flicking his wrist. "It's harder than it looks… hah!"

My jaw drops when a fiery-looking keyblade with a hilt like one of his chakrams appears in his hand. _"You _have a keyblade?"

"Why so surprised?" He grins again, tossing his key up and down. "You've got one. Like I said, they're handing them out to everyone now. I just went to summon my chakrams once and _poof, _this thing shows up." He fumbles the catch and it disappears, making him chuckle. "'Course, it won't show up that easy now. I've still got my chakrams, or else I would've been Heartless food days ago."

"I know what you mean about it being unreliable." I let mine disappear, since I'm pretty sure I can trust Lea now. I've never met an evil keyblade wielder, anyway. "Riku gave it to me first, but I couldn't summon it myself until I had this weird dream, and it still doesn't come easily."

"Dream?" Lea ruffles his hair. "I might've had something like that, but I sleep like the dead. Don't usually remember much about my dreams."

"It would be hard to forget. I was almost killed by a giant Heartless." Come to think of it, didn't Sora have a dream about a giant monster, back before the Islands were taken over by the darkness…?

Lea shrugs. "Maybe. Point is, I'm a wielder now. Speaking of keyblade wielders, where's Sora?"

I look back at the scarred palm tree and sigh, but he starts talking again before I can explain.

"Oh. I see how it is." Lea shifts back to his spot against the other tree. "Your boyfriend left you behind again."

"He's not my boyfriend!" I'd almost forgotten how much Axel used to tease me about that. How did he even figure out what happened so quickly, anyway?

He raises an eyebrow, and I bush. "If he was, he would've at least told me he likes me before running off halfway across the multiverse…"

I just said that out loud, didn't I. I have the urge to bang my head on the tree, but I settle for just dropping my forehead against it.

"Don't make fun of me, I'm having a bad enough day already," I grumble. _Bad _is an understatement; this is the worst day since the last time I was kidnapped. Sora and Riku might as well both be kidnapped from me.

To my surprise, I feel a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, I'm not _that _cruel," he says. "I'm not exactly a cry-on-my-shoulder type of guy, but you obviously need to get some of that out somehow besides beating up on helpless trees."

I slowly take me head off of the palm and look at him, eyes already starting to water. I didn't cry in front of him the whole time he held me hostage, and I don't want to start now. "You want me to believe you actually care about my feelings?"

"I'm not a heartless jerk anymore." He chuckles at his pun. "Besides, I never got the chance to apologize for kidnapping you. I owe you one."

I never would've expected Axel – Lea – of all people to show me sympathy, but he sounds honest.

"…And you're killing me with those puppy eyes," he adds with an embarrassed half-grin. "Just like one of my friends used to make. I can't seem to catch a break from them."

I sniff, pushing aside my feelings long enough to ask, "Puppy eyes? From who?"

He shakes his head in annoyance. "Wish I could remember. That's one of the reasons I was looking for Sora," he explains. "But I've got plenty of time. I don't mind keeping you company for a while. Y'know, since we had so many great memories together."

It's weird hearing Lea joke like we're old friends, but I laugh anyway. He's obviously changed, and it's not like have a lot of options for friends at the moment.

"Thank you. I really do need someone to talk to… Selphie's been with her other friends, and Sora and Riku are gone…" I sigh, not sure how to explain everything to Lea. It's not easy to purposely dump my feelings out to my ex-kidnapper, even though he's a good guy now.

"You wanna sit down?" He asks, tossing his head in the direction of the paopu tree.

"That sounds good." We walk across the bridge and I sit down on the curved trunk, while he takes Riku's usual position leaning against it.

"You were saying?" He prompts after moments of silence.

"I just feel so… so… like I'm all alone. Always left behind." My voice quavers, and I already feel my eyes stinging. But I've kept myself from crying before, and I should be able to now. "It's like Sora and Riku don't need me at all anymore. Or… maybe they never have." I let my hair fall in front of my face, just in case I do start crying, but I look at Lea through my bangs.

He nods. "I know what it's like to have friends leave you."

"Really?" I ask, rubbing my eyes. Well, I remember him talking about Roxas, but not anyone else.

"Yeah. Saïx, Roxas, that girl I don't remember… I guess you could say I don't have any friends right now." He laughs hollowly. "But this is your pity party, not mine."

I'm not sure if that was intended as an insult or not, but I scoot closer to him anyway. I can tell he's hurting, probably as much as I am, even though he tries to act like he's not. Just like Riku would.

"I'll be your friend," I offer.

When he laughs this time, he sounds like he might actually be amused. "You'd be friends with your kidnapper?"

"I forgive you for that. You were trying to save your best friend." Who knows, I might've done the same thing for Sora or Riku, if I had to.

"You really are a princess." He gives me a friendly nudge on the arm. "But hey, I'll take all the forgiveness I can get."

We sit in silence for a little while before he prompts me to go on with my emotional discharge.

"I was finally getting used to having them home again, and now they're gone. And…" My voice catches, "I meant to tell Sora… before he left, but I kept putting it off…"

"You never got a chance to tell him your feelings," Lea finishes, lacing his fingers behind his head just like Sora always does.

"And he never told me, either." I clench my eyes shut to keep the tears at bay.

"Well." Lea clears his throat awkwardly. "Did you expect him to?"

"He knew he had to leave!" I yell suddenly, dropping my head into my hands. I don't even care if Lea thinks I'm an emotional train wreck anymore. "I knew, he knew, he had plenty of time, so if he actually cared about me why wouldn't he _say _something? No, he just runs off across the multiverse for who knows _how _long, and I never know if he'll make it back for sure because who _knows_, he might have to fight someone like A-Ansem or Xemnas a-and he could get _killed-"_

I've completely lost it; I'm sobbing all over Lea's shoulder and clinging to his arm like a vicegrip.

"Sora will be fine," he assures me, reaching around with his other arm to give me a hug. I must look really pathetic to get this much sympathy from someone who's not a cry-on-my-shoulder guy. "He's got Riku, right? Those two almost single-handedly took down our whole Organization. What could they be up against that's more dangerous than us?"

"I d-don't know." I sniff, trying to keep the tears out of my voice even though it's too late to keep them off of Lea's coat. "They went to Master Yen Sid for their Mark of Mastery Exam."

"That can't be too bad," Lea says, probably just to cheer me up. "Trust me, he'll be fine. But about the rest of what you said… I'm not a girl, so I can't really sympathize with you here, but don't you think he probably didn't tell you for the same reason you didn't tell him?"

I slowly lift my face from his coat, blinking back tears. He's right; I can't really judge Sora when I've never said anything myself. I wish I could blame him. I couldn't before, really. That boy's just too sweet.

"Why do you have to make so much sense?" I grumble hoarsely.

He grins smugly. "Giving Life Lessons is kind of my thing, or at least it used to be." He shrugs. "But not on this subject. I just told Roxas that girls are a double-dose of complicated."

"What?" Was that an insult? He thinks for a minute, ruffling his hair.

"Y'know, you're probably overthinking this way more than Sora is. He's only a single-dose of complicated. While you're sitting here crying about him, he probably doesn't have a clue that he hurt your feelings at all."

"That doesn't make me feel any better," I pout.

"I told you, I'm a guy. An ex-Nobody guy, too. This isn't an area I'm really qualified to give a Life Lesson in."

"Because you're a single-dose of complicated too?" I ask, making him laugh.

"I don't even know anymore. Nobody-guys aren't complicated at all, but I've got a heart now. Maybe I'm just a half-dose," he jokes.

"You sure seem a lot more complicated than I am."

"Not when it comes to mushy feelings." He grins teasingly, then ruffles his hair. "Which is why I can't really help you."

I sigh. "Well, at least you tried."

He puts an arm around my shoulders. "If Sora's anything like Roxas, he won't get anything memorized until you drill it into his zombie head. I bet he likes you, he's just too clueless to do anything about it."

Yes, that pretty much sounds like Sora most of the time.

"Ugh… I wish I could've fallen in love with Riku," I mutter, letting my head fall on Lea's shoulder again. I wouldn't have to worry about Riku being such a dork, but then again, Sora's dorkiness is one of the reasons I love him.

Lea smiles awkwardly. "I'm not even going to try and give you advice there. Unless you count saying that you don't have to be in love with either of them as advice."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Is he trying to make me feel better or worse? Because this really isn't helping.

"Exactly what I said. You don't have to be in love." He flicks me lightly on the forehead. "Get it memorized."

I sigh. "Do you think I can just stop loving someone that easily?" Maybe he's been a Nobody so long he doesn't get it. I love Sora so much that I feel like flying when he's here, but when he's gone… It's like I have a Sora-shaped hole in my heart.

"I didn't say you had to stop loving him, just stop being _in love _with him." Lea smiles. "Friendship is a kind of love. And I know for sure that Sora will always love you that way."

That… is the most sentimental thing I've ever head Lea (or Axel) say. And the most honest. And…

"Maybe you're right," I admit. He made me feel a little better, at least. Sora would never be able to break my heart; he's too good of a friend for that. I still doubt I could actually stop being in love with him, though.

He ruffles my hair. "Be sure to get it memorized."

I laugh. "Thanks."

Lea brushes off his coat and stands up straight, no longer leaning on the tree. "Hey, remember the advice I gave you the first time we met?"

I frown. "Right before you kidnapped me?"

He ruffles his hair in embarrassment. "Yeah, I guess so."

"If you have a dream, don't wait. Act," I recite.

"So you did get that memorized!" He grins proudly. "Stop sitting around waiting for Sora and go choose your own destiny."

Smiling, I reply, "I will, just as soon as I figure out how."

"I think I'm going to get this Master Yen Sid guy to help me with my keyblade. You could tag along," he offers, holding out his hand.

"Hmm… I don't think I should run off with strangers," I tease. "Especially not crazy kidnapping strangers."

He sighs, frowning and ruffling his hair. "Fine, I deserved that. So you really want to wait it out here?"

"Well… no, not really." I clasp my hands together in my lap. "But I want to be here to welcome Sora home."

"I'm sure you're used to that." He shrugs. "How about we get some ice cream before I go?"

"Huh?" That's a random suggestion. "Why?"

He taps his temple. "'Cause we're friends now. Got it memorized?"

**A/N: Man, those two talk a lot. :P I'm pretty sure this is subconsciously AkuShi friendship in my head… I really didn't mean it to be, but Kairi started acting a lot like my headcanon!Xion does sometimes. *shrug***

**Axel vaguely knows that Xion exists because of the dream he had of Roxas right before he wakes up as Lea. I'm not sure if he actually remembers that dream or not, but it suited a few places for him to somewhat-almost remember her.**

**Personally, I honestly prefer Sora/Kairi to be platonic, because both of them would be epic fails at verbalizing their feelings for each other. Well, Sora probably wouldn't even realize completely that he had feelings for Kairi because he's an oblivious dork. ^^; Light romance for them can be cute sometimes, though.**

**Credits to Raberba girl for the "Sora-shaped hole in Kairi's heart" line. C:**


End file.
